Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-08-30
THE BUTTON.

When the painter John Bayard de
scended the mountain, where he has
passed the whole day among the trees anG
birds. formidable appetite was raging il
his stomach.
He entered the first inn he met and
asked To he waited on immediately. Tn.
room was filled with men, who drank and
smoked, AS ii was in Alsace, the country
Of beer and big china pipes.
John Bayard came too late; the dinner
| was over.
We'll, give me anything, you have Ger.
tainly some ham"
The little servant girl to whom he spoke
burst out laughing in his very nose, and
answered:
Yes. yes! will oring a plate of it to
you."
He was looking at her with amazed
eyes-she was all round, with rosy cheeks,
arms naked and hard as marble, teeth
white and pointed. like those Of young
| wolf, which her laugh showed unto her
ears. According 10 the fashion of Alsace.
large butterfly, made of ribbons, fiut-
| tered on her head, covered To the temples
| by disordered mass of golden hair and
her short petticoat, with pressed folds, al
| lowed one 10 see pair of fine legs, firmly
planted on the ground.
That will do, said John Bayard
When the ham that smelt good. tho
brown bread whose crust cracked under
the fingers, and the pint glass of beer
foaminC and sparkling, were placed be-
fore him he bec -. TO drink and eat with q
prodigious activity.
But as he drank only the balmy air Of
the mountain and tasted twelve hours. a
plate of ham was nOe enough: he called
for a second, then for third. then for
fourth; and for the purpose of extinguish-
ing the fire lighted in his throat by the
salt, he swallowed pint glass after pint
glass with the utmost alacrity.
Meanwhile, little by little, tepidity in
vaded all his being. He leaned laZily
on the back of his chair. his eyes full Of
pleasure, and interested himself in what
was going on around him.
Apparently il was late. One after the
other the drinkers rose. shook hands with
their friends and bade them good night
then gravely they hooked their china
pipes on the rack. covered their heads
with their big felt hats and departed.
When table was left unoccUpied the
little servant climbed on . chair, and
stretching herself she put out the light
suspended over that table
Although anything witnessed by him
was very natural. John Bayard found the
people before him acting queerly. The
drinkers and the little servant girl ap-
peared to him a set Of lunatics. II he
had seen them walking on their heads he
could not be more astonished.
Soon the room became a penumbra,
filled with smoke, in which our friend re-
manned alone with the hostess, who,
seated behind the bar, knit, waiting for
his departure.
''To leave the inn! Yes, it was the
hour for that" OF course he ought to
leave the place or else to ask if he could
eave a room for the night and breakfast
IOr the morrow.
All those thoughts passed vaguely
through his mind without Transforming
themselves into acts. by and by" said
he. by and by" He felt himself
growing heavy under the weight of such
q beatitude. and SO happy in the enjoy
ment of his laZiness that he would have
remained the balance of the night. "By
and by, when l have eaten what is left Of
ham on my plate and drank those few
drops of beer in my glass"
Now. rs his hunger was satisfied and
his thirst quenched he treated the ham in
amateur, by small pieces. Shortly, he
was coming to the end Of il, when sud
denly he felt hard body under his fork.
You" said he; '.you will be pleased
to let me alone and go to sleep on the edge
of my plate, like the Well bred bone that
you are
Puttingi it aside. he was struck by its
strange form: common bone is not per
fectly circular and fiat, and above all.
never is it pierced with four systematical
holes! So he took the object between his
thumb and index. and he examined it.
His eyes dIlated with surprise; he had the
certitude Of holding a button. Yes, a
button, and moreover, a button pertain
ing to a pair Of trousers.
"Whatr' thought he, ''never have l
seen pig wearing trousers, therefore the
fellow who was the owner of the thigh
from which that piece Of ham has been
cut was not pig, but-but-a manr'
and reaching this conclusion he shook
with fear.
And he heaped reason over reason for
1nding an irrefutable syllogism- You
would have caused a good deal Of surprise
10 him if you had told him that, admit
ting this bone to be a button, it might
have fallen accidentally in the sailing tub.
No, he had fixed idea relative to the CO.
relation of that button with the being Of
which he had eaten numerous slices.
He looked around him very much fright
ened. His glances rested on the hostess;
for the first time he noticed that she was
dressed in mourning-a widows mourn
ing-and that her face with prominent
cheek bones expressed hypocritical fero-
IL
sassinated her husband, and for prevent
ing her crime to be known she had trans
formed the body Of her victim into ham
and sausage"
He must do his dnty, he must denounce
the murderess Of whom he had discovered
the awful deed to the police He rose,
clided toward the door, deadening the
noise Of his steps, his eyes fixed on the
woman. who, perhaps, seeing him going
out. could guess his design and might
frustrate its accomplishment by killing
him also.
Thanks to the precautions taken by him,
he made his escape successfully Once in
the street. under the sparkling phantasn,a-
goria of a beautiful moonlight, he tried to
discover the residence Of the chief of 10
lice of this borough in which all the houses
were clos; 4.
Walking through lane he sang loudly
in the hope of attracting the attention OF
some one to whom he would expose his
errand. Immediately after the first verse
that he yelled rather than sang a window
opened, head appeared tied up in ban
dana.
Why are you making that Internal
noise:" said the head.
Il want you TO tell me where the chief
of police lives"
'In this house, and I am that official"
''Then open the door. / have some-
thing to say to you"
A moment afterward John Bayard was
telling his story TO the chief of police,